chapter ii: reading the recipe
Tadashi awoke to his alarm annoyingly blaring at a volume that irritated his ears in the state that he was currently in. The boy was groggy and could barely keep his eyes open for even a few seconds, and he eyes kept jolting open as the alarm kept blaring and Tadashi's eyes were trying to close. Sometimes, Tadashi wonders why he ever bothers to set the alarm to a time he isn't even ready to take on the day at hand, when he could just easily set the alarm to something later the night before, especially since he's on his winter break.
"Forget it," Tadashi murmured as he slammed his hand on top of the snooze button, and proceeded to get himself out of his bed and into the bathroom to take a shower.
"Might as well help Aunt Cass today, I've got nothing else better to do," said Tadashi to himself as he was lathering his body with a wash and a minty smelling soap. Tadashi was speedy with his showers, as he was out of the shower in five minutes flat, dried himself, got himself dressed and bounded down the stairs into the kitchen, where his Aunt Cass was creating some confectionaries.
"Hi Tadashi! Are you going to help out with the cafe today, hon?" Aunt Cass said sweetly.
Grinning, Tadashi replied, "Yeah, of course!"
It was only 9 AM, and a sizeable amount of people were walking through the doorway of the Lucky Cat cafe and making their ways to an available table. Tadashi's job for the day was to be a waiter, and that included getting all the orders of the customers, bringing food to said customers, getting their checks, and hopefully getting a decent tip from those customers as well.
"I don't even care that I'm not getting paid, at least I'm helping out the place," Tadashi thought to himself as he darted from table to table, speedily jotting down requests from the customers and bringing them to the kitchen. In the span of thirty minutes, the Lucky Cat cafe was bustling with business, and the chatter of people could be heard throughout the cafe, with people talking about things ranging from personal matters to serious political discussions.
"Don't know why people are talking about politics in this place, don't they know you never talk about politics in public places? Sheesh…" thought Tadashi as he skillfully placed plates of piping hot food onto the table of a family who seemed to light up as their food was served to them. After that, it was back to the kitchen with Tadashi, who was holding a myriad of plates on top of a gargantuan tray which were to be washed as soon as possible.
An hour had passed by, and things had seemed to be running smoothly, as Tadashi was in the kitchen, finishing up the dishes that he had just picked up and was supposed to wash. Just as he finished barely drying up the last dish, he darted out of the kitchen and into the main cafe's front desk. Tadashi was hunched over the front desk and breathing heavy, attempting to catch his breath after the mad dash he made from the kitchen all the way to the front.
"I'm so sorry about that, I really am," gasped Tadashi as his head was on the desk. He slowly lifted his head off of the desk to look up at the person at the front and said, "Now, table for how ma-"
His voice stopped, as he recognized the person that was in front of him.
Wait a minute, hold on...
Tadashi scanned the person's body with the accuracy of a surgeon, making sure if it was really who he thought the person was.
Black hair with purple streaks, black biker jacket, leggings, and wait… I could recognize those thighs from anywhere!
"Um, Tadashi?" said GoGo, who had a very puzzled look on her face as Tadashi was looking at her.
Scrambling to get himself looking presentable, Tadashi said, "I, uh, wasn't looking at you, no, not at all."
Raising an eyebrow, GoGo curtly responded, "Who said you were?" She then gave a tiny smirk, which quickly faded away and was replaced with the same, somewhat angered expression that she always seemed to have on.
Standing straight and clearing his throat, Tadashi then said in a moderately boisterous voice, "Are you eating alone today?"
Chuckling to herself, GoGo replied quietly, "Yeah, just me today."
Tadashi then led GoGo to an empty table, all the while making his way through all of the people that were in the cafe at the time, and sat her down.
As GoGo took her seat, Tadashi curiously asked her, "So, what's a person like you eating at a place called the 'Lucky Cat Cafe' for breakfast?"
"I heard about this place from Honey Lemon and decided to check it out. Got a problem?" said GoGo as she furrowed both eyebrows and stared at Tadashi with heat that could rival any oven.
"Okay, okay, I get it," Tadashi quickly responded. "So, what'll you have for breakfast today, Ms. Tomago?"
Smirking, GoGo replied, "I want you to cook me something. Make it a surprise, too.."
Tadashi looked shocked, as no one really asks for something like that before, and answered, "Wait, what am I supposed to make? And why do I have to cook it?"
"Didn't I say it already? I told you to make me something that would surprise me. And I want you to cook it since you took too long to seat me because of your low stamina when it comes to running short distances." GoGo said bluntly.
Sighing, Tadashi said, "Well, HOW am I supposed to make it?"
Snickering, GoGo replied, "You're an inventor and a student, one of the top, in fact, at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, which is one of the most prestigious universities in the country, but you can't make me a simple meal?"
Growling in frustration, Tadashi said with his teeth gritting, "I'll make you a meal that you'll never forget."
"I'll be waiting," said GoGo who smirked at him in a mocking manner. Tadashi then took off from GoGo's table to the kitchen, and began brainstorming ideas in his head.
So, what does GoGo like? What kind of food would Reiko "GoGo" Tomago enjoy? Wait… Tomago? I think I might have just the thing.
In the span of about fifteen minutes, Tadashi plated out his dish, which was one of the best he's ever made, put it under a silver dome to cover it, and brought it over to a very surprised looking GoGo.
"Not to be rude, but what's up with the fancy serving plate?" asked GoGo.
Tadashi gave GoGo the same smirk of mocking that she gave to him earlier, Tadashi replied rather triumphantly, "I just thought the food was worthy of it, you know, since I AM one of the top students over at SFIT."
Cringing, GoGo said, "Yeah, I know. Shouldn't have said that, now your ego's gone up…"
Slowly, Tadashi lifted up the silver dome that covered the plate, and unveiled his latest food creation to GoGo.
"Uh… Tadashi?" GoGo asked. "You DID surprise me with your choice of food, but…" GoGo trailed off. "...but why an omelette?"
Smirking once again, Tadashi responded, "Well, I had a funny thought in my mind. 'Tamago' in Japanese means 'egg', and your last name is 'Tomago'. I thought it would be funny since your last name sounds so much like 'Tamago'."
GoGo sighed in disbelief and said, "Wow, Tadashi. I didn't know you could be that corny."
Groaning, Tadashi crudely replied, "Just eat the food; I put a lot of work into making it."
Following Tadashi's request, GoGo took her fork and knife in both hands, and proceeded to cut a portion of the omelette into a piece where she could easily put it in her mouth. The first thing that she noticed about the omelette was that it was very soft, and she could cut into it without having to apply too much pressure onto the omelette. Carefully, she placed the piece of omelette onto her fork, and lifted it into her mouth. GoGo chewed slowly, savoring all the flavors that were inside of the single bite of the omelette, and her eyes lit up as she swallowed the food. Instantly, Tadashi could tell that she enjoyed his creation, as she continued to cut up the omelette and shoved more bites of it down her throat.
When she was finished putting in the gooey, fluffy concoction into her stomach, she had a very wide grin on her face, and said to Tadashi, "I'm impressed, Tadashi. I never thought you could be a good cook."
Rubbing his head sheepishly, Tadashi said, "Aw, it's nothing. I learned a few tricks from Aunt Cass, but I'm not that great of a cook."
"The omelette you made says otherwise." GoGo replied as she took a leftover piece of the omelette and stuck it inside Tadashi's mouth. He chewed very softly, swallowed, and said, "Wow, you were right. This stuff is pretty good."
He beamed a smile at GoGo, and as soon as he did that, she began to giggle softly, all the while saying, "You look so funny when someone surprises you!" Tadashi then began to chuckle quietly as the two shared a very special moment with each other. As soon as both of them finished their short bouts of laughing, GoGo said to Tadashi, "Well, I gotta be heading off. See you."
Being the gentleman that he was, Tadashi courteously led GoGo to the front door of the cafe, which led to San Fransokyo.
While the pair was at the door, Tadashi said to GoGo, "Hey, stop by again some time. I'll get you a discount the next time you come here."
"Actually…" murmured GoGo. "I was thinking that, y'know, I should repay you. You treated me today, and I thought I should treat you too. So, how about we, uh, hang out the day after tomorrow?" GoGo said with a slight smile on her face.
"Would that be called a 'date'?" boldly asked Tadashi, giving her a smile so big, it looked like the crescent moon.
Blushing, GoGoo said flustered, "I'll be the one to decide that once we're finished hanging out. So, are we going to hang out the day after tomorrow, or not?"
Tadashi nodded, and replied to her, "Yeah, of course."
"I'll see you then," said GoGo as she bolted from the door to her motorcycle, and in just ten seconds flat, she was on the roads of San Fransokyo to who-knows-where. Tadashi continued to work at the cafe until it was closing time, and as soon as Aunt Cass and him finished up clearing everything, he went up to his room, where Hiro was soundly resting. Tadashi then changed into his pajamas and jumped into his bed after a long day of hard work.
Man, today was pretty rough. I'll admit, having to make some food for GoGo was pretty fun though. I was trying to show her up at first by trying to cook up something really cool, but all that bad intent went away as soon as I saw her eating that omelette. Her face lit up like a Christmas tree, and that smile! That smile's something that you see when someone has genuine feelings, and that smile really made me feel happy. I don't know why, but it felt real nice to see her smile. I didn't know that GoGo was the type of person to get excited over some food, but then again she's an adrenaline junkie, so what do I know? Hopefully the day after tomorrow goes well…
Tadashi's final thoughts were just a distant memory as he faded away into sleep, resting for his upcoming plans with GoGo.